Ghân will Speak Animal to the fishes and see if they have anything to tell.
Thoroncir agrees that “Nothing” is probably the answer to Gil-Gandel’s riddle.
He offers this: “They speak not, but can be heard; their sovereign wears no crown, but is vital to their realm; their treasure is golden, but never struck as coins. Who are they?”
I’ll bee along with an answer to that in a minute. 
Ghân offers a Wose one. :eek:
How do you keep a foolish person in suspense?
I’ll tell you later!
Yes, bees, Gil-Gandel. As for you, Wose…
Try this: “Most want it, but few know what to do with it. It is as easily misunderstood as it is often unappreciated. Once lost, it may be hard to find again. Complex songs and great works of art have been dedicated to it, but the simplest child may appreciate it. The best savor it; the worst abuse it. Even animals may sense it. It can come either with tireless work, or effortlessly. What is it?”
sings
Ruled by a despot forever uncrowned,
A voiceless folk, but we all know their sound;
Abundant their vaults are piled with gold
Not cast into ingots nor coined in the round.
Thank you, Thoroncir. An agreeable riddle. 
waits patiently and quite deadpan for Ghân to elaborate
thinks over the Sea-Knight’s second riddle
Why, Thoroncir… is something on your mind? Is that a blush I see? 
Ghân shuffles his feet and looks guilty. :o
Then he adds that he’d love to know the answer to Thoroncir’s riddle.
Oooo, you’re both too good… or the knight-errant’s riddle-making is just too crude.
“Powerful but helpless; adored but tyrannical; new but ancient; silly but serious. What is it?”
The riddle not answered is how Deor plans to get from the ceiling down, down, down to the tiny island.
The fish have little to say. The see nothing and hear little under the water. Life is just a search for food and fleeing from the near touch of death. With that most scatter fast.
Drive a metal climbing pin into the ceiling, then tie on a rope and lower myself down. Surely the good Dwarves here (or our very own burglar) can provide such a pin, or a reasonable facsimile?
Just a reminder: [COLOR=“Blue”]Spider Climb Duration: 1 round +1 round/level[/COLOR]
This will not be enough time to do everything you wish to do.
Then shall we stay here overnight? You can cast Fly for tomorrow.
Or Ghan, please ask the fish what the biggest/most dangerous predators are in the lake. If there’s nothing too fearsome, Thoroncir will swim out.
Ghân is happy to oblige Thoroncir and duly questions the fish a little further.
Since Deor has looked at the Island and near shore, Ghân will cast Detect Magic around the rest of the cavern.
When he hears Deor ask the Dwarves for a climbing pin, a hammer and a rope, Ghân suggests that Deor come back and reconsider.
I need to think about Thoroncir’s riddle, but here’s one of mine:
I sit by the fire and stroke my kit
With the part of the horse that swished to and fro;
My kit is no mouser, and catches no birds,
But she purrs and she sings when I pet her just so.
What is my kit’s name?
I can’t remember- have you named your harp?
Is his harp the type you use with a bow?
That’s more like. Violin.
Thoroncir, “a baby’s smile”?
Close. I was just thinking, “an infant.”
It appears the fish are not going to return to talk further with Ghan. Thoroncir will take off his armor and don his Cloak of the Seals, a gift from his great aunt (local lore has it that the family has Selkie blood in its distant past). It keeps him warm and dry as he plunges into the bitterly cold Gollum’s Lake and swims with remarkable speed towards the island.
To those with better sight or even a little second sight, it appears Thoroncir has turned into a seal and swims very swiftly to the small island. When he pulls himself up and though he look normal. He pulls out his lantern and lights it and finds that at some distant time a goblin or three had ransacked the island and all is now muck and rot.
It is a small island. Only 20’ across and only a few few above the water itself.
Thoroncir swims back, shakes his peculiar cloak dry and reports on what he found as he puts his armor back on. He has thought up another riddle for his compatriots: “I am loved by most despite my secretive ways, but none truly know me. I sometimes enjoy the company of friends, one above all, but at other times I value solitude. I am a creature of habit, rewarding the patient. I reveal myself gradually, only to hide once more. To touch me is to die; to see me is to yearn. Who am I?”